For many years mariners, navigators, Naval Officers, astronomers and amateur astronomers have calculated the positions and visual aspects of the major heavenly bodies and important phenomena such as eclipses. As reported in a forward to the book “Astronomical Formulae for Calculators” by Jean Meeus, published by Willmann-Bell Inc., Richmond Va. 23235, copyright 1982, 1985, 1988 “Over one hundred fifty years ago . . . young Charles Babbage at the University of Cambridge in England became infuriated at the number of errors he found in some astronomical tables . . . . He wished they had been produced by steam machines instead of by humans, then his friend John Herschel replied, It is quite possible!”.
“In the early 1950's soon after the first “electronic brains” were constructed, their earliest applications included the wholesale calculations of tables and ephemeredes for the astronomical almanacs.” More recently, as a Naval Officer, the applicant on a daily basis used books and tables to do astronomical calculations to determine sunrise/sunset, sun azimuth at sunrise and sunset and moonrise and moonset times. The problem was that the calculations everyday using books and tables took time and considerable effort.
As a result, Applicant conducted research in an effort to minimize such work and to find the easiest way to update such calculations. These calculations and updated calculations are important because they give a navigator the exact time for switching on and turning off a ships navigational lights and checking the gyro compass. The Applicant found a number of online programs and astronomical software, but such software and programs were not practical for many mariners and navigators because they required either internet and/or a computer.
More recently a patent search disclosed of Perkins, U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,184. As disclosed therein a parabolic reflector is supported so that it can track the sun. The support for this reflector comprises an azimuth frame supported on two wheels and a central pivotal point which are positioned in a substantially triangular configuration. The two wheels rotate on tracks. On top of the azimuth frame, there is provided an elevation frame. The elevation frame includes curved rails which define a portion of an arc and extend vertically. The reflector rides on wheels captured within the curved rails. The wheels of the azimuth frame are driven by an azimuth actuator. The reflector structure is counterbalanced about its elevations axis by a pendulum cable system which is driven by a motor to change elevation. At the focal point of the parabolic reflector, a heat engine or receiver is mounted independently on the reflector. Suitable means are provided for moving the reflector about its two axes in order to track the sun.
A more recent U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,410 of Weslow et al. discloses an open loop servo controller for controlling motors which drive a solar energy utilizing device about its azimuth and altitude axis to track the sun. The controller has a central processor and elements for inputting data corresponding with the present day of the year, the hour of the day, the minute of the hour and with the latitude and longitude of the device's installation. Memories store program data, and tables of data corresponding with the declination of the sun on any day and of other mathematical functions. The processor uses the data to calculate the azimuth and altitude angles of the sun itself within every minute of the day and causes signals to be produced which result in motor controllers causing the motor to turn the device through the azimuth and altitude axes angles corresponding with the calculated angles.
Notwithstanding the above, it is presently believed that there is a need and a potential commercial market for an astronomical calculator in accordance with the present invention. There should be a need and potential market for such devices because they provide the basic calculations for a navigator, namely sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, and sun azimuth at sunrise and sunset. In addition, the apparatus is light and small, about 7 cm by 10.5 cm in length and width with a relatively thin thickness. The device can be used in any position on earth for any period of time between the years 1583 and 9999 AD. Further, the apparatus is durable, has reasonable battery life and can be manufactured and sold at a reasonable price.